One of the sights I remember from the fall of Sadam was a little boy following his toppled statue down the street, slapping the head of the statue with his sandal. This was a tremendous insult to Sadam from the hands of a little boy. While this was going on, I was taking a biblical interpretation class on the book of Ruth , and I learned that footwear has a very special status in the far east.
You see, when the unnamed kinsman redeemer closer to Naomi than Boaz refused to redeem her, he disgraced himself by this deed. (The disgracing deed was not redeeming Elimelech's land for Elimelech's heirs, which could have caused the unnamed man great financial hardship. If you wonder how a dead man with dead sons can have heirs, you need an ancient history course.) To close the deal, the Kinsman gave Boaz his sandal.
Today, it is a sign of great insult to have footwear hurled at you. Considering what happened to President Bush this weekend, I think we may not be winning the battle for hearts and minds.
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